Crew Spirit’s new squad, Xtreme Gaming’s teaching drama, Sundabule goes to “OG College”: Dota 2’s controversial week

There was no scarcity of spicy roster shuffles, controversial opinions, and behind-the-scenes drama within the Dota 2 scene this previous week.

I’ve spent the time digging round boards and socials to current you with essentially the most impactful tales from the previous few days. One factor’s for certain, Dota 2 esports isn’t quiet.

If there was one managerial technique Crew Spirit has consistently relied on every time issues begin wanting shaky, it’s digging into their pseudo-academy roster, Yellow Submarine, and selling gamers to the principle squad.

It’s no secret that the two-time TI-winning group has not regarded like its traditional selves all through 2026, and modifications have felt inevitable. In consequence, the squad has benched their latest recruit, Nikita “panto” Balaganin, in favor of Yellow Submarine prospect Alexey “not me” Kosmynin. The transfer has additionally shifted Aleksandr “rue” Filin to the place 5 position, whereas not me has stepped in because the group’s new place 4.

At its first rodeo at DreamLeague Season 29, Crew Spirit is beginning to appear to be it’s discovered its rhythm once more, going 6-1 in teams and already locking in a top-six end on the time of writing.

Not me has instantly regarded like a fantastic match for the roster, consistently working across the map like a shark and on the lookout for performs. In consequence, we’ve seen Crew Spirit simply take the fights they had been all the time so good at profitable. It seems like they’ve returned to their outdated id, and it’s all the time a deal with to observe.

The group remains to be trying to find its first trophy of the 2026 season, and with how they’ve been taking part in at DreamLeague, this wait may not final for much longer.

Whereas the brand new Crew Spirit roster is off to a roaring begin, one social gathering that received the brief finish of the stick was Panto, who obtained the dangerous information after solely seven months with the group. Thankfully for him, it didn’t take lengthy earlier than the European squad MOUZ got here calling, signing him because the group’s new place 5 participant on mortgage.

MOUZ not too long ago parted methods with three-time Main-winning captain Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp, who determined to hold up the mouse and retire from professional play totally. In my eyes, there actually aren’t too many robust place 5 gamers in the marketplace proper now, which explains why the German group wasted no time bringing Panto on board. 

On paper, the transfer is smart for either side. Panto will get one other shot on a aggressive roster, whereas MOUZ provides probably the most skilled gamers out there – somebody with a lot to show after his brief stint on Crew Spirit. 

After profitable PGL Wallachia Season 6 in November final 12 months, MOUZ have but to put up any notable outcomes. With the Esports World Cup and The Worldwide proper across the nook, it’ll want this roster transfer with Panto to work out. 

All of us love slightly little bit of drama, proper? Chinese language superteam Xtreme Gaming hasn’t had the best displaying at DreamLeague Season 29, particularly of their group stage collection towards Nigma Galaxy.

Within the first sport, star carry Wang “Ame” Chunyu was picked off across the 31-minute mark, and instantly rage-quit regardless of the sport nonetheless wanting playable. He instantly typed “gg” in all chat, forcing an early concession. 

Positive, issues had been wanting bleak within the sport, however the group may have at least gone for one final hurrah earlier than Ame ripped the 2 letters. 

In line with Chinese language insiders on Telegram beneath the deal with “Chinese language Muesli,” the group has been sad with how coach Zhang “xiao8” Ning has dealt with drafts, which can have contributed to inner tensions in the course of the collection. 

After the collection, xiao8 was not seen drafting within the following matches, with the group’s assistant coach Wang “Maps” Yutian taking the helm as a substitute.

This does appear to be a really messy state of affairs, contemplating how lengthy xiao8 and the Xtreme Gaming core have labored collectively. Seeing such a long-running partnership doubtlessly disintegrate mid-tournament is one thing you hate to see, particularly for Chinese language followers.

Tundra captain Neta “33” Shapira was introduced in for a post-match interview after a collection in DreamLeague Season 29, which additionally occurs to be a qualifier for the upcoming Esports World Cup. 

With Tundra Esports locking of their spot for the occasion, 33 was requested for his ideas main as much as the match:

“EWC goes to be a fantastic match, I all the time take pleasure in taking part in it. This time, it’s ‘solely’ 2 million {dollars}, which is similar as having DreamLeague into BLAST in like two weeks time. So in that sense, it’s not an important match – sorry to say that on an ESL stream. However everybody nonetheless actually needs to play it, and $2 million is in fact a very large quantity.”

Now, 33 wasn’t sounding ungrateful for enjoying in a multi-million greenback match or something – however I get his level. The one factor EWC actually had going for it was its monumental prize swimming pools. 

The 2023 iteration featured an insane $15 million prize, even exceeding The Worldwide’s that 12 months. Nevertheless, it has since dropped to $5 million, then $3 million, and now simply $2 million this 12 months. 

Sure, $2 million remains to be some huge cash – don’t get me incorrect – however the Dota 2 scene has million-dollar tournaments occurring virtually each month. So the upcoming EWC, with its present prize pool, does really feel like simply one other occasion – perhaps barely above an ordinary one at greatest. 

Followers on Reddit had been largely in settlement along with his sentiment. One Redditor put it bluntly: “Actually, even that may be a bit an excessive amount of contemplating how low the viewers had been on the current tournaments. Received’t be stunned to see them decrease the prize pool subsequent 12 months.”

To finish the recap on a lighter observe, we’ve a reasonably joke from REKONIX’s former coach Gregorius “Sundabule” Prasetyo.

Being Indonesian himself, Sundabule labored with REKONIX to assist revive the native Dota 2 scene, and was fairly efficient in doing so. The group certified for a number of S-Tier occasions, and though they completed final in most of them, they had been at the very least placing their nation again on the map. 

Nevertheless, the 25-year-old finally left the group in April, saying he wished to concentrate on his grasp’s diploma. The group revered his determination and let him go. Properly, clearly there was a change of plans, as SEA rivals OG introduced his signing because the group’s new analyst. 

Indonesian followers have been memeing the transfer, joking that he’s now learning at “OG College.” It’s additionally hilarious that Indonesians and Filipinos have a long-standing, wholesome rivalry within the scene, and that Sundabule primarily jumped ships. 

Jokes apart, OG, with their latest member Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek, nonetheless has loads of work forward of them. An additional pair of arms from an skilled coach like Sundabule will certainly assist the group determine issues out.